Near-Complete Whole-Genome Sequencing of Two Burkholderia pseudomallei Strains Harbouring Novel Molecular Class D Beta-Lactamase Genes, Isolated from Malaysia.

Here, we present two 7.1- and 7.3-bp near-complete genome sequences of Burkholderia pseudomallei strains of HTAA077 and HRPB058, isolated from a pus culture from a confirmed melioidosis patient at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Malaysia, and from blood culture from a patient at Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh, Malaysia, using a Nanopore MinION instrument.

A Severe Case of Arthrographis kalrae Keratomycosis.

A 52-year-old man with diabetes developed a unilateral central corneal ulcer after accidental foreign body inoculation. He complained of pain and loss of visual acuity in the injured eye, which displayed redness and edema and eventually discharged pus. A corneal scraping from the left eye orbit revealed fungal elements, and cultures of the material grew a fungus. The isolate was identified as Arthrographis kalrae based on gross and microscopic morphologies. The patient received amphotericin B intravenously and itraconazole orally. The wound healed following surgical intervention, but the patient lost the use of his left eye.

Current trend of pneumococcal serotypes distribution and antibiotic susceptibility pattern in Malaysian hospitals.

From January 2008 to December 2009, 433 Streptococcus pneumoniae strains were examined to determine the serotype distribution and susceptibility to selected antibiotics. About 50% of them were invasive isolates. The strains were isolated from patients of all age groups and 33.55% were isolated from children below 5 years. The majority was isolated from blood (48.53%) and other sterile specimens (6.30%). Community acquired pneumonia (41.70%) is the most common diagnosis followed by sepsis (9.54%). Serotyping was done using Pneumotest Plus-Kit and antibiotic susceptibility pattern was determined by modified Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and measurement of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using E-test strip. Ten most common serotypes were 19F (15.02%), 6B (10.62%), 19A (6.93%), 14 (6.70%), 1 (5.08%), 6A (5.08%), 23F (4.85%), 18C (3.93%), 3 (2.08%) and 5 (1.85%). Penicillin MIC ranged between ≤ 0.012-4 µg/ml with MIC90 of 1 µg/ml. Penicillin resistant rate is 31.78%. The majority of penicillin less-susceptible strains belonged to serotype 19F followed by 19A and 6B. Based on the serotypes distribution 22 (44.00%), 28 (56.00%) and 39 (78.00%) of the invasive isolates from children ≤ 2 years were belonged to serotypes included in the PCV7, PCV10 and PCV13, respectively.

An improved selective and differential medium for the isolation of Burkholderia pseudomallei from clinical specimens.

Isolation and culture of Burkholderia pseudomallei remains the main stay in the diagnosis of melioidosis. Thus, the search for selective and differential media for B. pseudomallei has been ongoing. A number of such media have been reported with varying efficacy. Ashdown medium is the most established selective medium for the isolation of B. pseudomallei. There are no reports of differential media differentiating B. pseudomallei from Burkholderia cepacia. This report documents such a selective and differentiating medium for B. pseudomallei. Of a total of 1042 clinical specimens containing mixed flora and gram-negative isolates that were tested on this medium, 16 of the specimens yielded B. pseudomallei. The isolation rate was found to be 1.5%. This medium was found to be simple and inexpensive, can be made by small laboratories, and called as Francis medium. Based on the colony morphology and color, a preliminary report can be made within 18-24 h for the presence of B. pseudomallei. Our study showed that this medium had an overall sensitivity of 78.4% with a specificity of 92.2%. The use of this medium as an early diagnostic tool will help to reduce mortality and morbidity of melioidosis patients.